


I Just Might

by DarkCellar



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, kylux - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Armitage Hux Being An Asshole, Armitage Hux Has Issues, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Gay, Gay Male Character, I Ship It, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, Kylux - Freeform, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Romantic Fluff, Short, Short & Sweet, Star Wars - Freeform, The Last Jedi - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-07 15:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14674335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkCellar/pseuds/DarkCellar
Summary: The nature of the relationship between two prominent members of The First Order is explored, when one of them decides he wants just a little bit more than the other feels he can give.





	I Just Might

When Hux saw the message with the red coding flash on his DataPad, he smiled to himself. It had been almost a week since he had received one of these “I need you” correspondences from Kylo Ren, and he was more than ready to engage in some carnal delights with him.

He hurried around his quarters, straightening up, running to the refresher to brush his teeth and comb his hair, whistling as he worked. He thought about putting on cologne, but decided against it; he’d just end up sweating it off, anyway. When he heard the light tapping on his door, he had to force himself not to be over-eager and sprint to answer it.

Opening it, however, revealed a much different picture than he’d anticipated.

Kylo was scratched up about the face, and there were several long tears in his clothes. One of his sleeves was torn clean off from shoulder to wrist, revealing several painful-looking cuts and a couple of dark purple bruise.

And he was ... crying?

“What happened to YOU?”, Hux couldn’t help but ask, as he let him in. They sat down together on Hux’s couch.

Kylo proceeded to tell him a long story about the rough day he had had training with Supreme Leader Snoke. At the end of it, Kylo burst into fresh sobs, leaning on Hux for support.

Hux sighed in resignation, and let Kylo soak his shoulder with tears. 

“Er, there, there,” he said, awkwardly patting him on the shoulder. “Calm down; I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

Kylo shook his head and muttered something. Hux didn’t hear what it was; he merely nodded and continued to pat him. In all honestly, Hux hadn’t signed up for this. All he wanted was to have sex with the man; he didn’t want the busywork of an actual _relationship_ , for kriff’s sake! Outwardly he was calm and soothing, but inside his mind he was plotting out possible ways to quickly snap Ren out of his mood and into Hux’s bed. And he had to hurry; he only had about an hour until his next meeting.

And it should have been easy, to coax him. The first time they had done this, after all, was the day after Hux had rescued Kylo from Starkiller Base. And Kylo had been far worse for wear after that incident, than he was today. And the sex they had, in the lone room in the infirmary, had been more explosive than the destruction of the weapon itself. Just thinking about it, and all the times that followed it, got Hux’s motors turning into high gear.

He turned Kylo’s face toward him, kissing him. Then he climbed into his lap and began kissing the tears off of his face, making his way to Kylo’s neck.

“Let me help you feel better, baby,” he murmured, his hand sliding down Kylo’s body and into his pants.

Surprisingly, Kylo didn’t react at all like Hux wanted him to. Instead of being turned on, he started to cry harder, throwing Hux’s hand away from him in a flourish.

“That’s all I mean to you, isn’t it?! That’s all you ever want me for!”

Hux groaned and crawled off of him, then leaned heavily back into his couch, exasperated.

“Kylo,” he began, trying to find a tactful way to phrase what he had to say, “You and I, we’re what the Terrans call ‘Friends, With Benefits.’ We have a ... a friendship, which I respect and appreciate, and we have a mutually beneficial sexual relationship. I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that we were anything outside of those two things. But to go beyond that, is another conversation entirely. Frankly not one I’m ready to have.”

Kylo was silent for so long that Hux had to question whether or not he’d heard him, at all. When he finally did speak, his voice was full of such hurt that’s even someone as hardened as Hux flinched, upon hearing it.

“I think we should end this. And this isn’t just your fault; it’s mine, as well. Because I enjoyed our ‘special time’, too. I just ... I thought that surely, by now ... I mean, it’s been almost a year, Hux. I was hoping that you’d be interested in a little more ...?”

Hux kept his mouth closed. Either way, no matter what he said, he was going to end up hurting Kylo more. And he didn’t want that. 

Kylo just nodded, and stood up.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, heading for the door. It was only after it closed behind him that Hux was able to say, softly, “I’m sorry.”

. . .

Hux sat at his desk, going over a large stack of paperwork. Or rather, staring into it, but not really seeing it.

He was humming bits of a song to himself, although he wasn’t aware of the piece in its entirety. He could only remember that his mother used to sing it to him, laying him in his cradle as a baby. An early memory, to be sure, but a very clear one, at that.

Hux didn’t know why, but he had been thinking more and more about his mother, lately. The woman had left before Hux had even taken his first steps, and Hux had a rather difficult time remembering her. The vague picture he had in his mind of her was blurry, and it further faded with each passing year.

He had asked his father multiple times, what had happened to the beautiful red headed woman that Hux inherited most of his looks from. Yet the answer always varied, depending on how old Hux was at the time of asking. When he was small, he had been told that she had died. When he was older, he was told she ran away to be with her lover, ‘like a common whore’. 

Personally, Hux would rather have believed the first situation. It was easier for him to accept death, than for him to think he had been abandoned. Yet even as he said that, he knew deep down that if his mother HAD fled, it wasn’t because of Hux himself. His father was a cruel, merciless man who kept a grip hold over everything in his possession, including his son. Over the years, Hux the elder had many women come and go in his household, although he never married again, after Hux’s mother. Hux didn’t know it, but watching his father and his endless cycle of lovers had crucially shaped how he thought of relationships in general. He thought it normal, to strictly have someone around for the purposes of sexual relief, but nothing more. 

Getting close to others, was a waste of time. After all, at some point, everyone just leaves. 

Just as his mother had done.

Just as the women his father had courted, had done.

Just like friends he had lost in battle, subordinates that betrayed him, and mentors that abused his trust, had done.

Which was very likely the reason he felt aversion to the idea of forming something ‘real’ with Kylo Ren.

Although Kylo was far better suited to understand Hux’s situation than anyone else. Abandoned, in a sense, by both of his career-driven parents, and then betrayed by his uncle, the man he had grown to love as a replacement father-figure.

But no, no sense in thinking of that now. After all, it was over between them, wasn’t it? He honestly wasn’t even sure if the two were friends, anymore. After that painful conversation in Hux’s quarters, Kylo went to great lengths, to avoid him. To never be left alone with him, to never speak to him unless absolutely necessary, and even then, only about work related issues.

Hux often had time to reflect on how surreally odd it felt, to ‘miss’ someone who you saw every single day.

And not just for the sex.

He missed their joking banter, he missed the occasional meal shared in the mess hall together.

Sometimes, after one of their trysts, Kylo would fall asleep in Hux’s bed, and Hux, rather than giving him the boot, would allow him to stay. He had liked to reach out and run his fingers through Kylo’s silky locks, which, Hux would bet his life on, was the softest material in the known universe.

He missed that, as well.

Sitting there humming to himself, he thought, _Just go and talk to him. Apologize. It’s not a weakness to do that; it’s improving your work environment._

His mind made up, he left his office and headed for the throne room of Snoke. He knew Kylo would just be leaving it, thus time of the afternoon, and he wanted to catch him in the hallway.

Hux walked quickly, stopping to say a few words here and there to people he passed along the way, but never deviating from his course. He was almost there when he stopped dead in his tracks, stunned.

Kylo was several yards ahead of him, his back turned so that he couldn’t see Hux, who had ducked back behind the corner. Hux had to blink and rub his eyes; Kylo had a _woman_ , in his arms. As Hux watched, he carried her down a small hallway, the Officer’s quarters hallway, and stopped outside a small gray door. He held her close enough to the door so that she could punch in a security code, then he carried her in.

Hux waited for a good twenty minutes, but he didn’t come back out.

Head down, fists clenched, he stalked slowly back to his office, so many emotions and thoughts running through his head that he felt sick with it all.

Had Kylo moved on, so quickly?

. . .

“Can I come in?”

It was several hours later, nearing sunset, and Hux had decided to pay Kylo a visit in his chambers.

Kylo nodded and stepped aside, letting Hux enter. He went and sat on the sofa, taking deep breaths to calm himself. But it didn’t work. When he finally spoke, what he blurted out was,

“I saw you. With Lieutenant Evelyn.”

“You saw me with ... when?”

“Earlier today.”

“Alright? You saw me with Evelyn, and?”

“Okay. A few things. First of all, if I EVER catch you touching on somebody else like that, ever again, I’ll kill you. I’ll creep into your room while you’re asleep and I’ll slash your goddamned throat with your own lightsaber.”

“W-what are you ...”

“Second, I’m sorry. For ... for what I said, the other day. I hurt your feelings and you didn’t deserve that.” Here he paused and uttered a strange little laugh, half-chuckle, half-sob. “Er, maybe I should have started off with my apology, before threatening to kill you. But you’ve got me so worked up that ...”

“Why do I have you worked up?”, Kylo asked, utterly confused. “Because I was talking to Evelyn?”

“You weren’t just TALKING to her!”, Hux shrieked at him, unable to hold his anger back anymore. “You think I didn’t see you pick her up? You think I didn’t see you CARRY HER TO HER QUARTERS?!”

“Hux,” Kylo began, his tone one that would be used to placate an angry child, “We were talking about the meeting. While we were talking, the woman wasn’t looking, stepped the wrong way on a mouse droid, and twisted her ankle. I carried her because she couldn’t put any weight on it. I only stayed with her until the med droid came, then I left.”

Now he tilted his head and regarded Hux warily.

“But wait ... why do you CARE? Whether I was helping her or doing something else, why does it matter to you?!”

Hux hung his head, embarrassed. He hadn’t meant to get quite so emotional; such a thing really went against his stoic, rigid upbringing.

“You said we had a friendship,” Kylo continued softly. He put his hand on Hux’s arm. “Unless THAT was a lie, too.”

Hux shook his head, still unable to meet Kylo’s eyes. “It wasn’t.”

“Okay, then, as my _friend_ , tell me what’s wrong?”

“That word is wrong. ‘Friend’.”

When Kylo started to open his mouth to ask what THAT meant, Hux went on:

“I was angry because ... because I thought you were making romantic advances towards Evelyn. And that bothered me, because I ... I think I think of you, as MORE, than a friend. I think I think of you as being, well ... _mine_.”

Kylo’s look of surprise was so deep that it was almost comical.

“B-but, you said ...”

“Forget what I said, okay? Look, the truth of the matter is you aggravate me, you irritate me, and sometimes just looking at you is enough to make me want to scream. But at the same time, you’re wonderful. You’re so wonderful you don’t even realize how wonderful you are. And I just might love you.”

He finally looked into Kylo’s eyes, fearful of the condemnation he felt sure he’d find there.

Instead, what he saw was so beautiful that it nearly stopped his heart.

Kylo smiled, and then he was leaning across the space between them and pulling Hux into his warm embrace.

“I think, I just MIGHT, love you, too.”

He pulled away and said, with a smirk,

“A word of warning, though; I’ve never been in a real relationship before. So, you’ll have to be patient with me.”

“Same here. Er, I believe I’ve read before, that couples share meals with each other. So how about you go make me dinner, and ...”

“Why should **I** make **you** dinner, asshole?”

“Because my cooking is abysmal.”

“So is mine!”

“Okay, then ... how about we take a nice walk around the grounds?”

Kylo shook his head. “Can’t. Too many flowers in bloom, they aggravate my allergies. How about you come to the gym with me, and watch me train?”

Hux rolled his eyes. “If I wanted to be bored to death, I’d give my father a call.”

“Maker, you’re annoying,” Kylo said with a pout. At the same time he bent down and lifted Hux into his arms.

“Where are you taking me?!”

“Bedroom. There’s at least ONE thing we know how to do well together.”

“But ... we’re supposed to be working on the other stuff.”

Kylo kissed him as he walked down the little hallway. “So we’ll work on them, tomorrow. We’ve got time, right?”

Hux smiled. “All the time in the world,” he agreed, as Kylo carried him through the door.


End file.
